


We've Waited This Long

by belleevangeline



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Cameos, Childhood Friends, Cute Kids, F/M, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Marriage, Wedding Fluff, Weddings, callbacks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26316661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belleevangeline/pseuds/belleevangeline
Summary: My dad said reviewing the new movie was "beneath me" so I'm finally writing that Phinabella wedding fic I've been planning.I mean that's not the whole reason but I'm doing it a little out of spite.
Relationships: Ferb Fletcher & Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, Ferb Fletcher & Phineas Flynn, Ferb Fletcher & Phineas Flynn & Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, Phineas Flynn/Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Comments: 13
Kudos: 28





	1. Rehearsal

**Author's Note:**

> Did y'all know that "What Might Have Been" and "You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart" have the exact same drum intro

It had been a relief when Ferb had indicated for Phineas to hand over the mic and let him take over addressing the guests. He hadn’t expected to be this nervous, but apparently the eighteen hour mark before getting married was enough to rattle even him. He half expected to wake up and be a little kid again, building something outrageous and enlisting her help, or fifteen again, agonizing over whether he should ask her to homecoming or if it would make things weird between them. It didn’t totally feel real that he was standing with his arm around her shoulder, or that she was reaching up to hold his hand, maybe not even aware that it gave him a perfect view of her engagement ring.

Ferb gestured to the two of them. “I hope you’ll all join me in congratulating my brother and my friend.” The room cheered.

“Those of you who know me know I’m not one for words,” he said, holding up a single index card. “So I’ll be brief. When we were eight, Isabella asked Phineas to a Sadie Hawkins dance, and he told her it sounded fun, and he and I would  _ both _ be glad to go with her.” 

The crowd figured the ensuing pause was to let the laughter die down before he finished his speech. Instead, he stepped aside and handed the mic to Ginger, who pulled an index card out of her purse to read off of.

“On Valentine’s Day in second grade, Isabella left a whole bag of fun-size candy on Phineas’ desk, with six little cards because she couldn’t decide on one. He assumed she made a mistake, and offered to hand them out to the rest of the class on her behalf.”

Some more guests snickered, as did Isabella. Ginger handed the mic to Buford. 

Phineas looked around and saw that several of their friends all had an index card and the same giddy smile, except for Ferb. He shot finger guns at the couple, silent and stonefaced. Isabella pinched the bridge of her nose as Buford started telling the cruise ship story. 

Once the rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen had taken their turn, Baljeet capped it off with the story of how Phineas finally found out.

“Frankly, he should be less embarrassed that he didn’t catch on until then, and more embarrassed that he was still using the word ‘friendzone’ back then.” 

You could hardly tell Phineas’ face from his hair. Linda politely requested the microphone.

“When the kids were in middle school, my husband and I started a bet over whether these two would get together before college,” she said, positively delighted at the turn the evening had taken. “Phineas came home one day the summer after he graduated high school with this big smile on his face, and he looked a little out of it. But before I even got a chance to ask what was going on, Lawrence put a crisp ten dollar bill in my hand, and I called Vivian over for drinks.”

Vivian laughed, and the two of them clinked their glasses. Vivian then turned to cheers her daughter, who was too busy laughing to complain about how embarrassing she was.

Somehow the noise didn’t wake Amanda, who had fallen asleep in her mother’s arms. Candace handed her off to Jeremy and took the mic.

“When I found out they were together, I got Isabella on a group call with Stacy, Jenny, and Ginger so we could all freak out about it, and Stacy said how shocked she was, because no one ever actually ends up with their elementary school boyfriend.”

The guests laughed. Stacy sighed and took a sip of her champagne, at least grateful that no one was turning to look at her.

“Anyway, then we all just screamed into our phones until Isabella caved and started screaming in her car, and that was her inauguration into the conference call cult.”

Phineas raised an eyebrow at Isabella.

“I didn’t know it was a cult,” she said, raising her free hand defensively. Neither of them saw who grabbed the mic from Candace.

“So these kids are walking down the sidewalk above me, and I hear them talking about a dance that’s coming up. And she asks him what he thinks about slow dancing, and he says it’s too hard, you would have to slow down the tempo in your head and try to dance to that.” 

Everyone was too busy staring at the strange man with the milk carton to be amused.

“And Mildred and I give each other the same look. We’re both thinking, ‘What’s the matter with this kid? The poor girl’s dropping hints like a seagull!’” Scott furrowed his brow and threw his hands up emphatically.

Gretchen yanked the microphone away from him. “Were you even invited to the wedding?” she said.

“What wedding?”

At that point, the actual guests started to leave and the restaurant employees got ready to close. Gretchen ushered Scott out. Candace and Jeremy said their goodbyes, it being far past Amanda’s bedtime. The wedding party had to rest up as well, though some of them were too excited to sleep.

This was it.


	2. The Flynn-Fletcher-Garcia-Shapiro Wedding Party Gets Dressed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is a reference to a picture book I had as a kid. See if you can guess which one. Also I revised this chapter about a day after I first posted it to fix the pacing a bit.

“I’m just sayin’, if we’d done one of those bachelor parties where it starts out all quiet and mellow and then gets wild, and one of us goes missin’ and everyone else has to find ‘em before the weddin’, we wouldn’t forget it anytime soon.”

Buford sat in a chair in the corner of the groomsmen room with his arms crossed and his dress shoes up on the coffee table. Baljeet slouched on the chair next to him and rolled his eyes.

“Buford,” he said. “Everything we do does not have to be an adventure.”

Ferb raised a finger. “Well, they say -”

“I know what they say."

Phineas stepped out from behind the divider fiddling with his tie.

“Ferb?” he said, and Ferb finished tying it for him. “Thanks, bro.”

Phineas stood in front of the full-length mirror and started bouncing on his feet and shaking out his hands.

“Here we go,” said Buford. “He’s gonna get weddin’ jitters and run off, and we’re gonna have to track him down before the ceremony without lettin’ anyone know he’s gone.”

“Buford,” said Phineas. “Everything we do doesn’t have to be a sitcom plot.”

“Is it too much to ask for some hijinks in all this? I’d think you of all people would want some kind of amazing tie-tying contraption, or a robot ring bearer, somethin’!”

“I’m marrying the love of my life,” said Phineas, fixing his hair. “Everyone I care about is here. I don’t need any more than that.”

“Always with the mushy stuff,” said Buford. “We need a little bit of hijinks. A single shenanigan.”

“Baljeet,” said Ferb, and Baljeet sat upright. “Find him a shenanigan.”

Baljeet groaned. “Seriously?”

Ferb raised an eyebrow. “Would you rather he try to make one himself?”

Buford smirked to himself as he zoned out and stared straight ahead at nothing in particular.

“Touché,” said Baljeet.

There was a knock at the door, and Candace led Amanda in by the hand. Phineas turned around and crouched down as his niece ran to him for a hug.

“Amanda Banana!”

“That doesn’t rhyme,” Amanda said with a pout. Ferb held out his palm and she gave him a low-five.

“It’s okay,” said Phineas as he stood back up and smoothed out his tie. “It’s a slant rhyme. Your dad can back me up.”

“We just came to wish you luck,” said Candace. “We’re gonna go meet Mom and Dad in a minute.”

“Hold on a moment,” said Ferb, and picked up a small brown paper bag from the coffee table. He crouched down to address Amanda sternly. “I have a very important flower girl mission for you.”

Her eyes widened with anticipation.

* * *

Isabella could have done her own hair and makeup. She would have had some bridesmaids on call if she needed help, but she really could have handled it. But she also knew there was no arguing with Gretchen, so per her orders, the bride was not to lift a finger all day unless absolutely necessary. If the sash on her bathrobe came loose, or a speck of mascara showed up under her eye, or a bobby pin started to fall out of place, someone was delegated to handle it.

“We need those curls to be completely uniform, ladies,” Gretchen said as she inspected their work. “Milly, you have to pin them up while they cool! Did you earn that expert hair and makeover patch or not?”

Adyson looked up as she brushed a top coat onto Isabella’s nail. “That was almost twenty years ago, Gretch.”

“And it took her six tries,” said Katie.

Isabella shot a look so fast she nearly ruined the blush Katie was in the middle of blending. 

Milly choked up. “Well then whose idea was it to put me on hair duty?!”

She ran out of the room in tears, and Gretchen sent Holly after her. Candace brought Amanda in as they were leaving and raised her eyebrows. Ginger took over curling.

“Lots of crying in that hallway,” said Candace.

Gretchen put a hand up to her earpiece. “Buford, we need a rope to block off the crying area.”

“I’m just impressed my mom didn’t start until she saw me this morning,” said Isabella. “Amanda Banana!”

Amanda had one hand covering her eyes while the other held a paper bag. What looked like about a dozen layers of satin and tulle bunched up in Candace’s arms. The line between the bodice and skirt was lined with little white roses.

“Didn’t anyone tell you you’re not supposed to look better than the bride?”

“Sorry,” said Amanda.

“That’s okay,” said Izzy, turning back to let Katie finish her makeup. “We can make an exception for such a pretty flower girl.”

“That’s actually why we’re here,” said Candace. “Right, Mandy?”

Amanda held out the paper bag, keeping her eyes covered. “Breakfast from Uncle Ferb.”

Gretchen took the bag and set it on the vanity in front of Isabella.

“That was nice of him,” said Isabella. “Amanda, why are your eyes closed?”

“It’s bad luck,” she said.

“Honey,” said Candace. “That’s only if your Uncle Phineas sees her.”

“And we don’t have a _real_ problem unless he sees the dress,” said Gretchen. 

Katie took the pastry out of the bag and set it on top.

Adyson eyed it, then Isabella’s nails. “Are we gonna have to feed it to her?”

Gretchen pressed her earpiece again. “We need a fork in the bridal suite.”

“What is it?” said Amanda, eyes still squeezed shut.

Isabella sighed. “Crumbcake.”

The bridesmaids laughed, and Amanda giggled along with them despite having no clue what the joke was.

“You can look, sweetheart,” said Candace. “It’s okay.” Amanda finally opened her eyes. “Doesn’t Aunt Izzy look beautiful?”

“She looks like Cinderella!”

“Aww, thank you!” said Isabella. “You looked an awful lot like Sleeping Beauty at the rehearsal dinner.”

“What about now?”

“Now you look like a ballerina-fairy-princess-movie star.”

“Mommy wouldn’t let me wear my sash,” Amanda whined. She’d been a Spark for about a week now, and liked to lean into it.

“In that case,” Isabella said with a smirk. “You’ll just have to be extra careful with this until you get home.”

Gretchen pulled a small patch with a white rose embroidered on it out of her purse and handed it to Amanda. Amanda looked over it with curiosity and delight.

“You’re about to earn your flower girl patch,” said Isabella. “Make us proud, Spark.”

Candace put the patch into her own purse for safekeeping as Amanda started bouncing giddily in her arms. Behind them, Buford poked his head in the doorway, holding up a velvet rope with one hand and covering his eyes with the other.

“Where’d’ja want the rope?”

Isabella rolled her eyes. “Buford, I’m not even in the dress yet.”

“That’s why I’m not lookin’.”

Baljeet popped up behind him, eyes covered the same way.

“I’ve got the fork!”


	3. They Will Hold On To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I've had New Year's on the brain since Christmas passed, yes I've been listening to a lot of Taylor Swift, but I don't see how that's relevant

Everyone in that hotel garden could attest that Phineas was smiling from the moment he arrived. Not a constant ear-to-ear grin, but the corners of his mouth were always turned up. It was a small, contented smile he wore as he escorted his mother down the aisle.

“Got any advice for me before I let you sit?” he asked quietly.

“Just try to remember as much of today as you can,” she said.

“I don’t think that’ll be a problem,” said Phineas as they reached the arch at the end.

“Then you know everything you need to know,” said Linda as she broke off and took her seat in the front row next to Candace and Jeremy.

Ferb and Lawrence reached the end just as Phineas got to his place to watch the rest of the procession. Ferb patted his father’s arm in a feeble attempt to stop him from crying this early in the ceremony, but by the time he sat down with his wife and daughter, he’d started a chain reaction of tears throughout the front row.

“Baljeet owes me ten dollars now,” Ferb said. “Remind me to tell him after the ceremony.”

Phineas raised an eyebrow at him. 

“There are about a dozen betting pools going on today,” he explained. “All over who’s going to cry and when.”

“Yeah? Who’s the next favorite?”

Ferb looked past Ginger and Baljeet at Buford, who was walking with Gretchen. He turned back to Phineas and they shared a quick nod. 

By then the processional music had grown too loud for them to talk. Once the rest of the bridesmaids had made their way to the front, Amanda giddily scattered her petals across the floor and Perry waddled up the step with the rings on his back. When Amanda’s basket ran out, she climbed up on Jeremy’s lap and slumped down with a big grin on her face, clearly satisfied with her work.

If anyone had bet on Phineas crying, they were out of luck. Isabella floated into sight in a satin ballgown with her parents on either side of her, and tears could never do her justice. Somehow he felt his heart start pounding in his ear and stop beating altogether. Everything didn’t disappear around her like in the movies, but it seemed to go quiet until she kissed her parents both on the cheek and stood in front of him. He was vaguely aware that the officiant was waxing poetic about love and telling the story of how they’d grown up together and started dating in college, as if anyone there didn’t already know. They had tried to find someone they knew to officiate, but everyone was either too nervous or too weepy at the prospect. He found himself thinking about New Year’s Eve.

* * *

The party was at the Flynn-Fletchers’ house that year. Phineas and Isabella had been dating about four months, and on the surface they didn’t seem much different from how they’d been as kids. They were still friends, still planning and creating with everyone, but might have slipped the odd remark into conversations about how cute or smart the other was. 

Phineas and Ferb were on the stage they’d set up in the backyard getting ready to lower the ball and set off the fireworks display at exactly midnight. Their friends were all watching with their cider glasses and party poppers at the ready. Isabella was standing with some of the other girls toward the front, and as the countdown reached ten seconds, Phineas got distracted by the sight of how the colors from the ball reflected off of her. Once it hit midnight, he let Ferb set off the fireworks so he could climb down. 

Isabella was laughing at Adyson’s struggle to get her party horn to make noise and didn’t notice him until he tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hey!” she barely had time to say before he took her face in his hands and kissed her. The tradition didn’t occur to him. He just had to do it. She returned it, but wasn’t prepared for the sudden motion and spilled her drink on him.

“I love you,” he yelled over the myriad of new sounds that filled the space after the ball dropped.

“I love you, too,” she said, laughing as she tried to dab at his shirt with a napkin. It didn’t occur to either of them that it was the first time they’d said it. They had to.

* * *

“I know you’ve all been waiting a long time for this,” the officiant said. The guests’ soft laughter made Phineas snap back into the moment. “I’ll let the bride and groom say their piece so we can finally get them married.”

Isabella took a deep breath.

“There’s this cliché that girls dream about their weddings their entire lives,” she said with a shaky laugh. “And I’ve been joking with everybody about how true it is in my case. But being with you is a lot different from how I pictured it back then, and I’m so glad it is.”

Vivian was already openly weeping again.

“I don’t know if I was really in love with you when we were kids. I don’t know if kids can be in love. But if I was, then everything I loved about you is still there. You’re still brilliant, and caring, and passionate, but as we got older I saw you start to understand yourself better. And then you wanted to understand everyone around you. You wanted to really know what we were all thinking, and try to see things the way we did. And that’s amazing to me, because I don’t think anyone sees things exactly the way you do. But you want everyone to have the chance to try, and you do the same for them. I can’t imagine myself with anyone other than the person you are now.” She reached out and squeezed his arm. “I love him too much.”

Buford was the biggest mess in the room. Gretchen collected a five-dollar bill from Katie. 

The words caught in Phineas’ throat for a brief moment.

“You are,” he said with palpable certainty. “The smartest, strongest, bravest person I know. And that’s saying something; I’m pretty impressed with just about everyone in my life. You don’t compromise. You don’t second-guess yourself. You know when you’re doing the right thing, and I’ve never seen you back down from it. Things felt a lot easier when we were kids, but every moment of stress, or confusion, every time I’ve felt like I was hitting a wall has been worth it because I got to have the best people by my side, and that means you. And if you ever, for a single moment, start doubting yourself, or you hit a wall, I’ll be there to help you see yourself the way I see you.”

Isabella had the kind of smile on her face that said she already knew all of that. Gretchen was the next to cry, and handed the money back to Katie.

“I believe the blue duck creature has the rings?” said the officiant. Phineas knelt down to take them off of Perry. 

“Thanks, buddy,” he said. Perry squeezed his eyes shut, contented as Phineas gave him a quick scratch on the head.

Most of the wedding party had some trouble containing themselves as the rings were exchanged. Baljeet and Buford very nearly squealed.

Phineas and Isabella weren’t exactly in a place to judge, because once they’d been pronounced they practically jumped forward to kiss each other. Once they heard the applause, they became acutely aware of the fact that they were in front of a crowd of about everyone they knew, and quite happy to be there. But for the first split second their lips touched, it was just them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the dress I'm picturing Isabella in: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/10273905388853771/


End file.
